“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” Oscar Wilde-

Breaking habits... losing addictions... starting "fresh"... it's all cliche isn't it? Everyone has different ideas of what "breaking habits" really means and how to easily do it. I've read plenty of ways to help with copeing, changing and renewing a new lifestyle of happiness and purity. I've even tried plenty of them, only to come of no fruition...

My life has never over the top normal. I guess there's no such thing as an ordinary life. Health problems have always been a big part of my life, whether they were my problems or not. For almost as long as I can remember my dad has had health problems. Then a few years after my dad's problems began, my Grandmama got cancer, and it wasn't long before she passed. About a year after she passed, my Pawpaw got cancer too. While I loved both of them, and I miss both of them very much, my PawPaw had more of influence in my life. I was always considered a PawPaw's girl. He was pretty much my go to person. He would always help me with homework, tell me stories from when he was little, or about random things that he would research. So being young and not knowing what was going to happen next, it was confusing for me. I never knew how to handle things, especially when I would see my dad going through an episode. A lot of the times my older sister would try to protect me from what was happening. My mom knew that I had to grow up at some point though. So after about a year, my mom began to let me help out, even if that just meant help out with my younger siblings. Whenever I got into high school I knew that I had to make the best of it. I know that a lot of the times that when people hear what I've been through and what I have done they think it's amazing. When I got into high school I joined the JROTC program. In the JROTC program I joined the Rifle team, got involved as much as I could, learned to fly an airplane, had my first solo, and this year I became the CO of the unit. It's crazy to think everything out of the JROTC unit happened in just four years. Even though a lot of good came out of these four years, I also had my challenges. I lost my best friend, got rejected by the rest of the friend group, accidents happened and a few of my friends passed, had my own medical issues, struggled with grades, had one of the worst breakups, and became lost. About midway through my Junior year I lost hope. I didn't know what to do and I had no idea why any of this was happening to me. After years of not having answers about my dad and my grandparents, and everything else, I became lost. I lost myself and I didn't know what to do. Soon I forced myself to get so caught up in school and JROTC that started to become more and more numb. I wasn't sure what to do until I met someone. He came into my life unexpectedly. We became best friends, he got me to go back to where I was raised. and brought out a different side of me. Now, I know that it sounds like a typical high school thing, but sometimes meeting someone can change your life for the better. There is no guarantee that anyone will stay in your life, but even if it's temporary, people can change the way that you look at life. That's what he did, he changed the way I looked at like while bringing me back to my roots. People come and go, but even if they leave, sometimes you still have to take and use what they taught you. You see, in the past four years of my life, I have learned a lot and done a lot. However, the biggest lesson that I have learned it that it's not about what happens to you in life, it's about what you do and make with it. Trust me, I know that it's a lot harder said than done. My advice to y'all is that even if you have a hard life, you make the most of it. It's all about perspective. If you look at all of the negative in your life, it's only going to bring you down. However, if you look at the positive things, even if they are really small, it will make a difference. A lot of the times it is the small things in life that matter most and keep you going. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT!! If you look I know that from the outside and a brief explanation it doesn't sound like a whole lot. Not only that but I know that almost all of it is easier said than done. And I guess you never truly know what someone is going through until you actually step into their shoes. Keep your head up though. If you make the most of what you have, life will get better. It might not be immediate but it will happen. Keep going. Don't give up. Make the most. Love like crazy. Keep your head up.

Image Credit: Livia Fălcaru

In grade 10, my civics and careers teacher assigned us a project on what success means to us. I thought long and hard about what that word meant to me; money, fancy cars, a big house, and the one thing I really believed in.

Dear Appreciation,

Image Credit: Livia Fălcaru

Art can take form anytime, anywhere and with anyone. I took the time to take advice from creatives around the world, to share how they are keeping their artistic juices going at home. Here's what they had to say.

In honor of March being Women's History Month I thought I would reflect on some of the women in my community who inspire me. Some of these women I've met personally, and some of them I admire from a distance- (I see you girl- keep doing you!). I think that as a woman it's important to honor and recognize when we see others doing something that inspires us. Even if it's something we would never pursue ourselves, the fact that watching someone else can give us the energy and motivation to create a life that we love living, is pretty amazing.

Dave Chappelle got it right ‘The Age of Spin’ is officially dead with social media playing a large role in it; you may not realize it now but the evidence is as clear as an X-ray and finding success on the gram and genuine streams or views across social media has become a trend we seem to focus.

So, today’s post is going to be very different; because it’s about my personal life, rather than my take on the outside word. It dawned on me this past week that I am turning 24 today, and it brought up a lot of different emotions in me; for different reasons. The past 5 years have been filled with so many incredible moments, good and bad. And I say incredible for the bad moments because looking back now I wouldn’t take a single thing back. I wouldn’t want to do a single thing differently. Not the tears. Not the heartache. Not the depression. Not the anxiety. None of it. Because I would not be who am I today, on my 24th birthday, without going through everything that I went through.

January is closing in and the New Year's resolutions are beginning to pile in by the million. But, honestly, how many times have we promised ourselves that we'll cut out drinking or snacking only to then scrap the goal mid-January time? How many promises have we broken to not only ourselves, but also to our friends and families, as well? It's not usually the greatest of starts, is it? But that's alright – because, annoyingly, we're all guilty of doing it.

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” Oscar Wilde-

My life has never over the top normal. I guess there's no such thing as an ordinary life. Health problems have always been a big part of my life, whether they were my problems or not. For almost as long as I can remember my dad has had health problems. Then a few years after my dad's problems began, my Grandmama got cancer, and it wasn't long before she passed. About a year after she passed, my Pawpaw got cancer too. While I loved both of them, and I miss both of them very much, my PawPaw had more of influence in my life. I was always considered a PawPaw's girl. He was pretty much my go to person. He would always help me with homework, tell me stories from when he was little, or about random things that he would research. So being young and not knowing what was going to happen next, it was confusing for me. I never knew how to handle things, especially when I would see my dad going through an episode. A lot of the times my older sister would try to protect me from what was happening. My mom knew that I had to grow up at some point though. So after about a year, my mom began to let me help out, even if that just meant help out with my younger siblings. Whenever I got into high school I knew that I had to make the best of it. I know that a lot of the times that when people hear what I've been through and what I have done they think it's amazing. When I got into high school I joined the JROTC program. In the JROTC program I joined the Rifle team, got involved as much as I could, learned to fly an airplane, had my first solo, and this year I became the CO of the unit. It's crazy to think everything out of the JROTC unit happened in just four years. Even though a lot of good came out of these four years, I also had my challenges. I lost my best friend, got rejected by the rest of the friend group, accidents happened and a few of my friends passed, had my own medical issues, struggled with grades, had one of the worst breakups, and became lost. About midway through my Junior year I lost hope. I didn't know what to do and I had no idea why any of this was happening to me. After years of not having answers about my dad and my grandparents, and everything else, I became lost. I lost myself and I didn't know what to do. Soon I forced myself to get so caught up in school and JROTC that started to become more and more numb. I wasn't sure what to do until I met someone. He came into my life unexpectedly. We became best friends, he got me to go back to where I was raised. and brought out a different side of me. Now, I know that it sounds like a typical high school thing, but sometimes meeting someone can change your life for the better. There is no guarantee that anyone will stay in your life, but even if it's temporary, people can change the way that you look at life. That's what he did, he changed the way I looked at like while bringing me back to my roots. People come and go, but even if they leave, sometimes you still have to take and use what they taught you. You see, in the past four years of my life, I have learned a lot and done a lot. However, the biggest lesson that I have learned it that it's not about what happens to you in life, it's about what you do and make with it. Trust me, I know that it's a lot harder said than done. My advice to y'all is that even if you have a hard life, you make the most of it. It's all about perspective. If you look at all of the negative in your life, it's only going to bring you down. However, if you look at the positive things, even if they are really small, it will make a difference. A lot of the times it is the small things in life that matter most and keep you going. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT!! If you look I know that from the outside and a brief explanation it doesn't sound like a whole lot. Not only that but I know that almost all of it is easier said than done. And I guess you never truly know what someone is going through until you actually step into their shoes. Keep your head up though. If you make the most of what you have, life will get better. It might not be immediate but it will happen. Keep going. Don't give up. Make the most. Love like crazy. Keep your head up.

It's a strange thing knowing that you're not allowed to go anywhere. Most young Australians, those in our heavily populated cities, for example, are used to going out and socially interacting with others on a regular basis, so the sudden understanding that they're now not allowed to must seem absurd. It turns out that I'm one of those young Australians.

If you are familiar with Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret or The Power, you are completely in the loop of what many in the New Age realm call “The Law of Attraction.” However, according to Harvard University's website, there have been quite a few studies that substantiate a link between being grateful and being happy, and H.A. Fraser has set up a personal gratitude experiment anyone can conduct on their own in her book Thank You, Yes Please.

If you know a struggling 20-something, or even a seemingly-thriving 20-something, buy them Meg Jay's book The Defining Decade.

My reading schedule is pretty full and I had no plans to allow Dr. Shree Walker’s memoir to jump the line ahead of others I needed to read for research. A few unlikely things occurred that put her book in the front of the rotation and I’m glad they did.

When will we emerge from all of this? No one knows for sure yet. Weeks, maybe months. But someday in the hopefully not-so-distant future, we will open our front doors and we will no longer be fearful of the unseen. We will no longer have to quickly leave our homes to grab our necessities and run back to escape the unknown. We will not wrestle with anxiety as we pep talk ourselves before we head out of our front door for work (for those essential employees who still must leave their homes to go to work. We will no longer fearfully anticipate what awaits us when we turn on the television or pick up our cell phones. We will no longer be forced to choose between our health and the health of our families or financial stability for our families. Unfortunately for some families they are one in the same depending on what stand to endure without financial stability.

Shortly before she returned to London (and before a pandemic consumed the world) my good friend, Sophie, left behind a small trove of parting gifts, including a variety of seeds for me to plant. I was touched by this gift and knew its value, so I set the small baggie in my pantry for another day. Living in the middle of the city, I felt I wasn’t prepared to start a miniature garden in my shared apartment, though I do acknowledge it is perfectly possible.

Have you ever imagined where you would be in ten years? Same. I am 23 years old who graduated college almost a year ago, however, my life is not at all close to where I saw myself being at 23 years old. My 13 year old self, thought that I would be living on my own, have a full-time job, in a happy relationship, and just having the time of my life. Oh, was I wrong. I am currently living with my parents, I have a part-time job, and I have no idea what I should be doing and where I should be going. It does not make it easier that majority of my friends or people in the media who are around the same age, already have their lives figured out and what they want to do. I am in a constant battle with myself of how I should have done this, or I should be doing that and maybe everything would be different and I would at least have some form of comfort that my life is put together. Life has a really funny way of working and I am not quite sure if I could keep up. As the days went by, I would constantly think what I should be doing and how I can do things differently, but I realized, I was doing everything all wrong.

A sense of self can be grounding during almost any situation in life, be it good or bad. However threats to one's image in both societal and self acknowledgement can be detrimental to health, mental state, education and your ability to get through the day. Ever heard the saying “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”? This quote is credited to Einstein in the book “The rhythm of life: living every day with passion and purpose” by Matthew Kelly. (Although there is no evidence to support that he actually said it as It does not appear in the comprehensive collection of quotations “The Ultimate Quotable Einstein” from Princeton University Press.)

A lot of people are going into shock now that they have to stay home full time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the CDC the next two weeks are going to be the hardest yet, and simple outings like going to the grocery store have been prohibited unless urgent.

Today did not begin like it was supposed to - must have gotten out on the wrong side of the bed - but then again, most days aren’t starting off in the best way right now, are they!?

Dear Appreciation,

Love?

You know you have actually never seen yourself. Even when you look at yourself in the mirror you are actually seeing an image that your brain created of what you look like. In many ways it is accurate to what other people see when they look at you, For example, brown hair, blue eyes and plus sized. For many people the image looking back at them is inaccurate or they do not like what they see. Everyday is a struggle with the mirror showing you everything you don't want to see.

In the book, Meditations, Marcus Aurelius reminds himself of the people he will encounter every day. That they would be “ meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly.”

Yes, you’ve said it before, that you really do mean to learn Spanish or brush up on your French. But this is the year. This time, it’s really going to happen. Here’s why.

In our fast-paced society, we feel a lot of pressure to accomplish a lot of stuff in a small amount of time. That can lead to a crippling fear of failure and a feeling of burnout. Both of these, in turn, lead to procrastination. Don't beat yourself up and think that it's a personal flaw. It's not. It comes down to one simple thing:

Breaking habits... losing addictions... starting "fresh"... it's all cliche isn't it? Everyone has different ideas of what "breaking habits" really means and how to easily do it. I've read plenty of ways to help with copeing, changing and renewing a new lifestyle of happiness and purity. I've even tried plenty of them, only to come of no fruition...

1. It Makes You Feel Great

Sometimes it feels like the universe is on your side: the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and everything is going your way. Unfortunately, though, it can’t always be that easy.

Image Credit: Livia Fălcaru

How would life be without humour? I am referring to humour which lightens us when the world is dealing its blows, the most recent being a pandemic. I am referring to its essence when people are on lockdown with their 'turned over' schedules and bored moments needing to be filled. I am referring to times when people look for an escape, instead of dealing with their personal crisis. It's at times like this humor is the answer. I then go searching on Instagram. Where do I go to on Instagram?

To begin with, I deem it appropriate to address the issue that we all are facing as a global community; the well-known pandemic COVID -19. The disease has affected over 550k people worldwide and has claimed 27k lives. Just the figures should ring the bells if you have yet not taken this seriously. Today, it is more important than ever to be cautious and take the utmost care to stay safe.

In grade 10, my civics and careers teacher assigned us a project on what success means to us. I thought long and hard about what that word meant to me; money, fancy cars, a big house, and the one thing I really believed in.

It’s hard enough being in a world that is tall. It’s hard walking into places made for “normal” people. Little people are supposed to acquiesce to what isn’t made for them and yet if something is made smaller for us, we are told to fix things to suit those that are “normal”.

There are a few people in every field, be it sports, medicine, ballet, chess, business, etc. who excel where others only manage to achieve competence. Their light seems to shine brighter and they achieve a level of mastery that most of us only dream about. Why is that? How do they do it? Are they born with a special gift?